Guayaquil, the capital of the Province, is the chief commercial city of the Republic.
Los Rios, north and east of Guayas, and west of Bolívar, partakes of the characteristics of the former; a lowland region with fertile cacao lands, many rivers, and several towns busy with interior commerce. Cattle breeding, and timber extraction are important.
El Oro, the most southern of the coastal provinces, thus bordering on Tumbes, Peru, with Loja also on the south and east, and Azuay northeast, extends into the sierra region, as here the range in Ecuador comes nearest to the Pacific; one peak is over 13,000 feet high. Along the shore are mangrove swamps and salt plains.
Machala, the capital, a little farther back, is near one of the famous cacao sections. Along the many streams and esteros back of the mangrove swamps are sabanas 1-3 miles wide, excellent for cattle; then come the cultivated lands, sandy soil overlaid by rich earth where cacao grows wild, and where other plants like bananas and coffee flourish. The lower slopes of the Cordillera up to 3300 feet are also favorable to tropical culture. Fisheries are important and in the Zaruma Hoya or Basin is gold mining.
Loja on the east, and extending farther south, has Peru on both south and west, the precise boundary line still uncertain; the Oriente is on the east. Traversed by the Cordillera Real, it has hot and cold regions, with pleasing towns and bleak spots. The capital, Loja, altitude 7300 feet, is quite a city with 14,000 population.
The Andean Provinces farther north are largely similar to each other in production and characteristics.
Azuay, where there are gold washings and hat making, has the ordinary agriculture and cattle raising of the highlands.
The important town of Cuenca, altitude 8465 feet, is the capital, with a population of 40,000, the third city in Ecuador. Seventy miles southeast of Guayaquil, it is south of the present railway system, carrying on its traffic with the outside world over mountain ranges by means of bridle paths only. It has a few factories for the making of sugar, woolen goods, pottery, hats, and cheese.
Cañar follows, between Guayas west and Oriente east. It includes the great knot of Azuay and its once famous quicksilver mines, now apparently exhausted. From these, the chief town, Azogues, near by, population 9000, took its name.
Chimborazo, as might be supposed, contains Ecuador’s greatest mountain of that name. The Province is followed at the north by Tungurahua, Leon, Pichincha, Imbabura, and Carchi, all quite similar, with their rows of mountains, their cattle, textile industries, growing of cereals, and in the valleys, sugar cane and cotton.